In the personal care field, there is a need for materials which encapsulate or entrain hydrophobic actives. Encapsulation offers known benefits such as compatiblizing the hydrophobic actives with an aqueous systems, and isolating and protecting the hydrophobic actives to preserve their potency.
Theoretically, encapsulation is also intended for delivering hydrophobic actives to a person's skin or hair. One suggestion to accomplish this benefit has been to give the encapsulated hydrophobic active a positive charge in order to better bind to negatively charged surfaces, such as skin or hair. However, this approach has serious drawbacks when used in surfactant-containing personal care products. Many surfactant-containing personal care products contain relatively high levels of anionic components, which compete with the hair or skin for positively charged components, thereby preventing an adequate amount of encapsulated hydrophobic active to be deposited on the hair or skin.
Accordingly, what is needed are new encapsulated hydrophobic active systems which address the above-described needs.